Christian is based in our Washington, DC office and is a Vice President of ML Strategies. He assists a variety of clients in their interactions with the federal government.
Prior to joining ML Strategies, Christian spent nearly 10 years in staff leadership roles with the US Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation serving Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) as the former Chairman, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) as the former Ranking Member, and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the current Ranking Member of the committee. During most of his tenure, he was either a subcommittee staff director or senior counsel for at least one of three subcommittees: Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection; Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance; and Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion. His work focused on a broad range of issues, including consumer protection, privacy and data security, cybersecurity, automobile and highway safety, product safety, sports, manufacturing, exports, and trade while regularly interacting with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Department of Commerce. His previous position with the Commerce Committee was serving as a majority staff counsel for two subcommittees for former committee Chairman Rockefeller.
Earlier, Christian held policy coordinator, senior staff, and senior advisor roles with the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he worked on matters related to the FTC, NHTSA, CPSC, Department of Commerce, and the EPA.
Christian also served as a senior legislative assistant to US Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-IL) and previously to former US Representative Bill Luther (D-MN), advising each on Energy and Commerce Committee issues.
Education
- Oberlin College (BA)
Recent Insights
Viewpoints
Tackling False Claims Being Made for COVID-19 Treatments and Products
March 24, 2020|Blog
Federal Response to COVID-19
March 16, 2020|Alert
News & Press
Vice President of ML Strategies Christian Fjeld was quoted in an article published by Reuters discussing the increase of price gouging due to COVID-19 and its legality.
Vice President of ML Strategies Christian Fjeld was quoted in an article published by Legaltech News on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s approval of robotics company Nuro’s request for three exemptions to deploy its fully autonomous car fleet in the United States.
On December 9, 2019, Vice President of ML Strategies Christian T. Fjeld participated in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Business Table of Experts discussion hosted by the San Francisco Business Times. During the forum, panelists addressed how businesses can leverage AI to drive innovation, the impact AI will have on the economy and on society, and the meaning of artificial intelligence itself.
Viewpoints
Tackling False Claims Being Made for COVID-19 Treatments and Products
March 24, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Joanne Hawana, Karen Lovitch, Joseph MIller, Aaron Josephson
Two weeks ago, on March 9, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent warning letters to seven companies that allegedly made false or deceptive claims about their products’ ability to treat Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The agencies warned the companies that their health claims lacked credible supporting evidence and emphasized the FDA does not recognize a vaccine, drug, or treatment for the disease.
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Congress Calls on FTC to Protect Americans from Price Gouging During COVID-19 Health Crisis
March 18, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld
On Wednesday, key Members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the Commission “to take immediate action to protect consumers from price gouging during this [COVID-19] declared public emergency.” The letter was sent to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons from the chairs of the committees and subcommittees with jurisdiction over the FTC:
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Federal Response to COVID-19
March 16, 2020 | Alert | By Alexander Hecht, Frank C. Guinta, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Aaron Josephson, R. Neal Martin, Anthony DeMaio
Read about the federal government’s response to COVID-19, including $8B in emergency funding and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act pending in the House.
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The View from DC: Expansion of COPPA?
February 7, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Christopher Harvie, Cynthia Larose
Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL) has introduced the Protecting the Information of Our Vulnerable Children and Youth Act (PRIVCY ACT), which is a significant rewrite of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In so doing, the bill expands the scope of COPPA’s protections and creates new enforcement mechanisms. The children advocacy groups, Common Sense Media and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, have come out in public support of the bill, as has the privacy advocacy group, the Center for Digital Democracy.
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Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
February 5, 2020 | Blog | By Rachel Irving Pitts
Artificial Intelligence is a growing part of our day-to-day life. And AI promises to improve our health care system. ML Strategies Vice President Christian Tomatsu Fjeld recently sat down with other experts for a panel discussion hosted by the San Francisco Business Times to discuss AI and some business and policy considerations across multiple industries. This viewpoint considers some of the impacts on health care specifically, and links out to the panel's discussion.
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The Impact of AI
February 3, 2020 | Article | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld
Read the transcript of a San Francisco Business Times panel discussion on artificial intelligence, including ML Strategies Vice President Christian T. Fjeld’s insights on emerging regulatory issues.
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Congressional Privacy Action – Part 2: The House
January 29, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Christopher Harvie, Cynthia Larose
The House is taking a different approach to drafting a federal privacy bill. On December 18, Democratic and Republican staff for the House Energy & Commerce Committee released a bipartisan staff draft for circulation. The “staff” in “staff draft” is key – the document does not necessarily reflect the policy positions of Members, particularly committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR).
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Congressional Privacy Action – Part 1: The Senate
January 28, 2020 | Blog | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Christopher Harvie, Cynthia Larose
As 2020 gets underway, Congress will continue to deliberate on federal privacy legislation in the second session of the 116th Congress. The California Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CCPA) went into effect on January 1, and the state will begin enforcing the law on July 1. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) is expected to release final regulations implementing CCPA within six months (although business certainly hopes sooner….).
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Monthly TCPA Digest – December 2019
December 12, 2019 | Article | By Joshua Briones, Russell Fox, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Elana R. Safner
Mintz’s December TCPA Digest covers consensus robocall legislation passed by the House of Representatives, recent TCPA-related orders from the FCC, and court decisions allowing fraud claims to proceed against serial TCPA plaintiffs.
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TCPA Legislative Update — After Much Negotiation, House Passes Consensus Robocall Legislation; Senate Vote Imminent
December 12, 2019 | Article | By Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Elana R. Safner
Read about the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, consensus robocall legislation that passed in the House of Representative by a vote of 417-3.
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News & Press
Special Report: The Mask Middlemen - How Pop-Up Brokers Seek Big Paydays in a Frenzied Market
April 1, 2020
Vice President of ML Strategies Christian Fjeld was quoted in an article published by Reuters discussing the increase of price gouging due to COVID-19 and its legality.
Vice President of ML Strategies Christian Fjeld was quoted in an article published by Legaltech News on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s approval of robotics company Nuro’s request for three exemptions to deploy its fully autonomous car fleet in the United States.
The Impact of AI: Bay Area Experts Discuss the Meaning of Artificial Intelligence and How it Will Affect the Economy and Society
January 24, 2020
On December 9, 2019, Vice President of ML Strategies Christian T. Fjeld participated in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Business Table of Experts discussion hosted by the San Francisco Business Times. During the forum, panelists addressed how businesses can leverage AI to drive innovation, the impact AI will have on the economy and on society, and the meaning of artificial intelligence itself.
In this Q&A published by Legaltech News, Vice President of ML Strategies Christian Fjeld—former lead Democratic Senate staffer tasked with shepherding the American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies Act (AV START Act) through the Senate—discussed why Congress failed to pass the AV START Act, how autonomous vehicles’ complexity isn’t lawmakers’ largest hurdle, and why the data privacy debate may factor into the next autonomous vehicle bill.
Events
Speaker
Mar
30
2020
Panelist
Jun
19
2019